Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-10-02
A MEXICAN HEAVEN.
An Able Jurist's Wonderful Story
Of a LOng.Lived Race OF People.

Of a LOng.Lived Race Of People
Readers of the Globe Democrat whit
have been following its columns con
cerning very old people will be inter
ested in statements recently made BY
Don Ignacio Galindo while in Sal
Antonio. Don Galindo is one of thu
ables jurists in Mexico, member O
the Supreme Court of that Republic
widely known all through its territory
and, of course, of unimpeachable YER
acity. He spent some days here re.
newing old acquaintances among
Mexican citizens, and left this morn.
ing for the City of Mexico. Those
who met him found him very COM
panionable old gentleman. Two days
ago, on the veranda of the hotel, the
conversation turned upon human lon
gevity, when Judge Galindo gave the
following account of a remarkable
section and a remarkable race within
the borders of his own land:
"There is" said he, Sin the State of
Vera Cruz, 12O miles to the northwest
of the capital of that name, a portion
of country which its inhabitants de.
nominate El Cielo, or as you would
say in English. Heaven They gave
it this name because of its peculiar eli.
matte conditions. The air, the water
the elevation, in fact the whole envir-
onment, is peculiarly conducive tc
length Of human life. The instances
Of logevity furnished by its records are
perfectly wonderful, some of them sur.
passing belief. Many have come under
my observation. For instance, one o1
the oldest men in the section recently
died. His name was Jesus Valdonado
a farmer and ranchman of considerable
possessions. This mans age at the
time of his death was indisputably l54
years, which, if l am not mistaken,
goes considerably beyond the celebrat-
ed DIR. Parr, of London. At Valdon-
ado's funeral the pall-bearers were
his three sons, aged respectively 14O,
120 and ITO years. They were white
haired, but strong and hearty. Not sc
with the dead man who, during his last
twenty years of life, had broken down
rapidly. At the time of death he was
wrinkled, hairless, toothless, deaf and
well-nigh blind, and much decreased
in size, in fact, male copy of Hag.
CARDS She after she came out of the
fire and resolved herself into the miss.
ing link between q chimpanzee and
Concord philosopher. BY comparison
of age you will see that when Waldo.
nado's eldest child was born he him.
self was only fourteen years of age
something by no means uncommon in
Southern Mexico. Furthermore, ow.
ing, suppose, to early puberty and
child-bearing, 1 recollect no instance
of a woman reaching an excessive
age.
"Near the Ell Cielo district, thirty
miles away, and separated from it by
a chain of mountains, is a circum.
scribed area Of lowland which pos
sesses exactly opposite attributes, anG
which is called FL Inferno. There
forty years make an old man Of the
strongest. sL
"In Peru" continued Judge Calm
do, "ever since it's settlement by the
Spaniards, exact church and civil
records have been kept Of each birth
and death. These records are abso.
lutely unquestionable. l have had
many opportunities of examining
them, and have made copies of some
of the most interesting. l find in
them some instances OF human beings
reaching the well-nigh incredible age
of 200 years and over. l do not asl
YOU to believe that these records are
correct. 1 myself know that they art
correct. / tell you that in my owl
country, which has been but littl,
explored, there are examples of human
longevity which would upset ever,
preconceived notion Of the savant." p
(San Antonio letter to st. Louis Globe
Democrat.